


your hand in mine

by togetherwecouldbealright



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-24
Updated: 2015-08-24
Packaged: 2018-04-16 23:42:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4644435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/togetherwecouldbealright/pseuds/togetherwecouldbealright
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis draws on Harry’s skin sometimes and it’s not supposed to mean something but somehow it means everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	your hand in mine

**Author's Note:**

> uhhhh... larry. that's all.

Harry is seventeen when it becomes a thing.

It starts when he and Louis are up in Doncaster, visiting the girls and Jay. Usually he and Louis take care of the girls while Jay goes out and has a day to herself and this day is no different.

He’s sitting with Lottie and Felicite who are debating over which movie they should watch and Louis is upstairs with the twins doing who knows what. It can’t have been more than twenty minutes that they’ve been apart but Harry misses Louis’ touch already.

It’s a little silly but Harry treasures every moment that he spends in Louis’ presence because he’s already had to spend sixteen years without his soulmate; he doesn’t like to spend even another hour without him.

Sue Harry if he’s ridiculously in love with his amazing boyfriend. It’s just—whatever.

Thankfully Louis bounds down the stairs with the twins at his heels five minutes later and the first thing he does is fall dramatically into Harry’s lap.

Harry grins at him and Louis smiles right back before he leans in so their noses brush together in an Eskimo kiss.

“Hi love,” he murmurs and Harry feels his heart swell in his chest. He doesn’t know how it’s possible but each day he falls more in love with Louis. “Missed you.”

“Hey,” Harry mumbles and briefly hopes his cheeks aren’t too flushed. Even now, Louis makes him flustered and he’s more than sure Louis is proud of it. “Missed you too.”

One of the twins climbs onto the couch then, taking the seat beside Harry and he notices that there’s a handful of markers clutched tightly in her fist. “Will one of you be our model?” Daisy asks seriously, looking between him and Louis.

Harry squints at them in confusion and he doesn’t get a chance to answer because Louis laughs uproariously and stands up, making his way to the other couch. Harry just stares after him, unsure of what’s happening until Louis says, “Of course he will.”

Then suddenly both the twins are on either side of him, doodling on his skin with what seems to be permanent markers while Harry sits there pouting at Louis who has the nerve to look amused.

Lottie and Felicite don’t even acknowledge any of this, apparently used to it and Harry briefly thinks that he’s grateful that Gemma never subjected him to this. That thought doesn’t last long because Harry genuinely _loves_ spending time with Louis’ younger sisters and loves taking part in whatever they activity they take a fancy to.

If he’s being really honest, Harry just loves children in general. He can’t wait to have a house full of them, running around and laughing. He also can’t wait for Louis to be by his side the entire time.

It’s only half an hour later that he thinks that _maybe_ the twins are done and finds he’s slightly wrong because the Tomlinsons aren’t quite finished wreaking havoc on his skin. However, it’s Louis this time and he draws a single _L_ on Harry.

Harry doesn’t wash it off with the rest of the scribbles.

And then suddenly it’s a thing.

Harry always carries a pen around in his pocket and sometimes randomly during the day, Louis will pull it out without asking and scribble something new onto Harry.

At first it’s in places where no one can see, like the insides of his thighs and the small of his back. But then the _L_ s start showing up on his hands and the smiley faces start showing up on his wrists and Harry finds that he’s more than okay with that.

He’s always loved being marked up by Louis and this is just another way to show the world exactly how gone he is for his boyfriend.

The boys don’t say anything but sometimes he’ll catch Liam smiling down at one of the scribbles or he’ll see Niall hiding a smirk when Louis suddenly pounces on him and starts to draw. Zayn doesn’t say anything either but once Harry forgets to grab a pen for the day and Zayn is there, sliding one over without a word but a knowing grin on his face all the same.

No one ever questions it but sometimes he’ll see the fans tweet about it, making up theories that Louis is writing _L_ s to ‘claim his territory’ and Harry assumes they’re not all that wrong.

As the months pass by, Louis starts to doodle different things, ranging from whole sentences to little stick figure drawings all across Harry’s skin and it starts to mean something more than it originally started as.

Sometimes if Harry is having a bad day, Louis will keep him distracted by sucking bruises into his skin and then defacing them with permanent marker. The whole concept just makes Harry feel better, feel _loved_.

One day Louis scribbles a _Hi_ into Harry’s upper arm, reminding him of when they bumped into each other in the bathroom at bootcamp and without thinking about it, Harry goes to a tattoo shop and gets it etched into his skin permanently.

When Louis sees it later, his eyes become wet and his face grows incredibly soft as he quietly asks, “For me?”

Harry nods without hesitation and holds one of Louis’ hands against his heart, replying, “For you. It’s always for you.”

Louis chuckles wetly, shaking his head while looking at Harry with stars in his eyes. “That’s forever, you know that?”

Again Harry nods and murmurs, “So are we.”

\--

It’s always been known that Louis doesn’t want tattoos and that he barely even likes them. Harry’s never faulted him for that.

When they’re in Australia though, an interviewer brings up the subject of tattoos and Harry can’t help but let his eyes drift to Louis, waiting for his answer.

Harry watches in shock as Louis turns his color coded paddle from red to green considering tattoos. “I used to be…” Louis cuts off, pointing to the red side before continuing with, “But I’m slowly…” and then pointing at the green side. Then before anyone can say anything else, he rushes in, “Not for myself.”

It doesn’t really matter though because just knowing that Louis’ opinion on tattoos changed because of _him_ makes him feeling like he’s absolutely on fire with love and underneath the table, he nudges Louis’ leg lightly.

Louis flashes him a quick smile, complete with his eyes crinkling in the corner before he turns back to the interviewer.

A month later, Louis tells another interviewer over the phone that he feels matching tattoos are incredibly scary and that he thinks they’re the lifelong bond. Harry watches him quietly, head tilted as Louis draws an anchor on his wrist, still speaking in hushed tones on the phone.

Harry doesn’t think too much of it though because he’d never ask Louis to do something he doesn’t want to. It’s just that Harry _likes_ tattoos, likes how permanent they are and likes that they tell the world the things he can’t say out loud.

He tells Louis this one night while the older boy writes _MINE_ in capital letters across Harry’s back. Suddenly the marker stills from where it’s finishing up the letter _E_ and Louis rolls him over, easily straddling Harry’s hips.

“I want to get a tattoo for you,” Louis whispers and Harry feels his heart skip an entire beat.

“Are you sure?” Harry asks back, voice equally as soft in the quietness of the night.

Despite how dark it is in their hotel room, the moonlight is enough for him to make out the bright smile on his favorite boy’s face as he replies, “Absolutely.”

And so he does.

Harry carefully writes _oops_ onto a sheet of paper and slips it into Louis’ open palm. In return he gets another smile and a tight hug, Louis’ arms wrapped around his waist.

“You’re my entire world,” Louis whispers into his ear and Harry has to take a moment to breathe; thinking about the fact that this boy in front of him is doing the one thing that he said he never wanted to do just for Harry, without any prompting of any sort, just because he loves him that much.

“I love you,” Harry replies, squeezing his arms around Louis’ neck tightly. “I love you so much.”

Louis pulls away and he winks quickly, making Harry giggle before he can help himself. “I know. You’ve got it written all over you. Soon I will too.”

\--

Harry doesn’t know how he got lucky enough to share ten matching tattoos; ten lifelong bonds with someone like Louis but every single day he’s thankful for it and he makes sure to let Louis know.

Louis takes the piss out of him by writing _you’re welcome_ s along his ribs and it usually ends in Harry laughing so hard he can’t breathe while Louis sits on top of him, tickling his sides.

It’s true though and Harry doesn’t care _how_ cheesy it makes him.

He knows that he and Louis have never been a typical couple. They’ve always been so much more because right from the first moment they met each other, they just clicked and Harry knew. He knew that this was the person he’d spent his whole life waiting for and would spend the rest of his life beside.

The strange part was that Louis felt the exact same.

On the night before their wedding, Louis sneaks into his room even though they aren’t supposed to be with each other and Harry happily shuffles over so Louis can slip in and underneath the blanket.

Harry turns around so his back is flush against Louis’ front and they lie there, quiet aside from their breathing. For a second, Harry thinks that maybe he can hear both their hearts beat in sync, can feel Louis’ soul touching his.

He doesn’t say this though and instead he breathes in Louis’ scent, feeling at home in his arms.

Perhaps he should be surprised when Louis pulls away and opens one of their bedside drawers, digging around for something but he’s not. Instead he welcomes the feeling of the tip of a marker, pressed against his left shoulder blade.

Louis remains silent, writing two simple words before putting the pen back and settling against Harry once again. Harry feels a soft kiss against his other shoulder blade and smiles to himself.

He doesn’t stay awake to find out if Louis writes anything else but the next day when he wakes up, the bed is empty.

It’s alright because the words written on his shoulder make it so he carries Louis with him, right up until he stands beside him at the altar.

The words burn into his skin the same way Louis’ soft, loving eyes burn into his.

_I do._

**Author's Note:**

> come [yell at me on tumblr](http://lourrynavy.tumblr.com) or [yell at me on twitter](http://twitter.com/deepestIove). whichever you want.


End file.
